Compass' captures first with a modest opening

&quot;The Golden Compass&quot; proved a mild fantasy at the box office, pulling in $25.8 million, a modest opening weekend compared to such recent December heavyweights as &quot;The Lord of the Rings&quot; and &quot;The Chronicles of Narnia&quot; flicks.

New Line Cinema's &quot;The Golden Compass,&quot; whose cast includes Nicole Kidman, pictured at right, and Daniel Craig, also took in $55 million overseas since it began opening last Wednesday in 25 other countries.

Disney's &quot;Enchanted,&quot; the No. 1 movie the previous two weekends, fell to second place with $10.7 million, raising its total to $83.9 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

New Line, which had enormous success with its three &quot;Lord of the Rings&quot; films, had hoped for more out of &quot;The Golden Compass,&quot; expecting it to reach at least $30 million domestically over its first weekend, said Rolf Mittweg, the studio's marketing chief.

The film cost $180 million to make.

Parents with children accounted for half of the film's audience, so New Line is counting on family crowds that flock to theaters over the holidays to keep the movie afloat, Mittweg said.

&quot;The Golden Compass&quot; was adapted from the first book of Philip Pullman's &quot;His Dark Materials&quot; trilogy.

Ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC.